Re-appraisal and extension of the Gratton-Vargas two-dimensional analytical snowplow model of plasma focus evolution in the context of contemporary research

Abstract: Recent resurgence of interest in applications of dense plasma focus and doubts about the conventional view of dense plasma focus as a purely irrotational compressive flow have re-opened questions concerning device optimization. In this context, this paper re-appraises and extends the analytical snowplow model of plasma focus sheath evolution developed by F. Gratton and J.M. Vargas (GV) (Energy Storage, Compression and Switching, Ed. V. Nardi, H. Sahlin, and W. H. Bostick, Eds., vol. 2. New York: Plenum, 1983, p. 353) and shows its relevance to contemporary research. The GV model enables construction of a special orthogonal coordinate system in which the plasma flow problem can be simplified and a model of sheath structure can be formulated. The LPP plasma focus facility, which reports neutron yield better than global scaling law, is shown to be operating closer to an optimum operating point of the GV model as compared with PF-1000.